The ARRI ALEXA has been generating a lot of interest lately, and we’ve received many requests for sample footage. Specifically, people want to see what the footage looks like straight out the camera – as it would be seen on set, and on first arriving in post.

To accommodate these requests, Abel’s Mitch Gross and Guenter Noesner of ARRI decided to capture some basic material, and Geoff Boyle of the CML graciously agreed to host the files, which you can download here.

Mitch and Guenter captured all the material in about hour, shooting in a variety of conditions. Their slimmed down ALEXA package consisted of a Zeiss 14.5-45 lightweight zoom, clip-on mattebox, handgrip and shoulder pad.

The material on CML is provided as a resource to the industry, so that anyone may experiment with manipulating the footage in post. Details on each of the set-ups follow.

First, Mitch and Guenter shot in Abel’s New York showroom with the camera set to 3200° color balance at 800 ISO. They shot in ProRes444, 422 HQ and the lowest end ProRes Proxy file recording. They recorded these in both REC709 and LOG-C. These settings are a good representation of what most people would expect to be using in such a shooting situation, and the formats are what post would expect to see. The showroom was chosen, because of the lit diorama that’s surrounded by black cameras. This demonstrates how far the one can dig into the shadows. Exposure was set with a Spectra IV incident meter placed by the bust on the diorama.

The next test was an exterior street scene. Mitch and Guenter added an ND.9 filter to lower the exposure without lowering the sensitivity of the camera. They shot traffic flowing by on a sunny day with lots of contrast and color, and added in some pans for backlight to frontlight. The camera was set to 5600°. They recorded all levels of ProRes in both REC709 and LOG-C. (If the slates aren’t legible, the file headers provide details.) Exposure was set with a Spectra IV incident meter pointed at the sun.

As a final test, they pointed at a brick wall and zoomed in and out a few times, then tilted the camera and did it again. A geometric pattern such as this can wreak havoc with aliasing if the sensor is not properly filtered. As some people have expressed this concern, they decided to include it in the tests.